


Ashes

by Sn0wbro



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: City of Light, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:40:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25158664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sn0wbro/pseuds/Sn0wbro
Summary: Clarke see’s lexa through a crack in the doorway and is able to save her by taking the bullet insteadFuture the 100 events still happen
Relationships: Bryan/Nathan Miller, Clarke Griffin/Lexa, Eric Jackson/Nathan Miller, Lexa/Costia, Lincoln/Octavia, Miller/Ryan, the 100 s3 stuff
Comments: 7
Kudos: 74





	1. Bullets and blockades

**Author's Note:**

> What would lexa’s influence have had if she lived  
> What would’ve happened to skaikru  
> Bloodreina?  
> Who lives and dies instead  
> Additional characters will be added as the story progresses

CLARKE  
I was running as i heard another gunshot from Titus, god dammit, I was leaving anyways with Octavia why is he shooting at me-oh shit nooooo Lexa I started to think as I saw Lexa through the crack in the door looking scared as Titus aimed my gun towards the door, I dived in front of it as Lexa turned the handle, making sure to position myself in front of her chest and head as best I could- “Ahhh” I screamed, the pain blinding as I felt the bullet enter me. Next thing I knew I was on a bed with Lexa desperately trying to stop the bleeding.  
“Clarke, no, Clarke.. Stay with me Clarke” then another scream as she cut Titus’s knee so he couldn’t walk. “Clarke I need you to tell me what to do” she said desperately untying Murphy. “Go find a healer and your crimes will be forgiven, they are two floors down and tell them the commander orders it and… I cant lose you clarke” She said with tears obviously streaming down her face. “I already lost everyone else, my parents, Costia, Anya, I can't lose you-not again.” She said as Murphy rushed in flanked by 2 guards and a healer.  
“We need to stop the bleeding, then we need to get her to Abby.” The healer who I recognized as Nyko said. “We need Abby to save her, Abby is against Pike and Clarke is her daughter. We should be able to do this if there is a way to contact Kane.”  
“Indra can do so, go and get her.” Lexa said to the guard.  
“No” I said, “it’s- it-its to-to risky. Because the -the blockade- and -and pike”  
“Clarke” Lexa said, tears once again streaming down her face “we will save you. We have too” Indra walked in “Indra, your method of contacting Cane, can you still use it?”  
“Yes, Hedda” Indra replied as I thought no, my mom will get killed by a grounder or leaving Arcadia but I need to live to save them so Lexa doesn’t kill them all. Maybe if I instruct them… no i have lost too much blood i can't think straight, gah stupid Titus go float yourself… i can’t focus i'm gonna pass out  
“Lexa” I said weakly, “lex….a” then everything went black.  
LEXA  
“Clarke, Clarke-she’s breathing- she will be ok, she is still breathing” I said barely holding even a fragment of myself together among my people, how could I be so weak. “Prepare my fastest horses, we will meet them. Indra give me the radio, I need to speak with them” as I grabbed the radio from Indra, I said “Idk how this thing works but is anybody there?”  
“Yes-is clarke ok? Can I speak with her? Is Nyko there?” A voice said, “I can tell him what to do until we arrive”  
“Good idea, Abby,” Nyko said “here is the situation, Clarke has been shot and she has lost blood, she just passed out. She got shot right over the spot you called spleen”  
“Ok” said the voice on the machine thingy that is apparently Abby, “has the spleen ruptured, can you take out the bullet? I am on Helios with Octavia and we are on our way.”  
“Yes it is ruptured, and I am preparing to take out the bullet now. I just need to sterilize the tweezers and I am starting the extraction.” Nyko used words that he must have learned from Abby and skaikru since none of our healers used them.  
“Ok” Abby said, “once the bullet is out, there is nothing you can do besides give her the pills I gave you that will induce a coma, this will help her stabilize.”  
“Very well,” I said “now that this is over for now, everyone except Titus shall leave temporarily .” I’m so angry at him that i could kill him. But he is the fleimkeppa so I can’t. “What the hell is your problem?” I screamed, “you think killing Clarke will make me declare war? You almost shot me! Of all the people, Titus, I never expected you to do this. Clarke will decide your fate but know this, only your role as fleimkeppa has spared you.”  
“Forgive me, Hedda.- i was just”  
“Forgive you?” I chuckled menacingly, “first you insult me and tell me that it is my fault Costia died, and the same would happen to clarke, then you shoot clarke even though you know that I LOVE HER and that she was still gonna go back to her people. I know you didn’t support my decisions, Titus, but you are not Hedda, you don’t have the spirit of the commanders, maybe you failed to recognize that Becca Promhedda fell from the sky too? I love Clarke and if you had succeeded in taking her away from me, you would suffer the most painful death by fire, cuts, burns, and every other way I could think of. You are lucky she lives. Now go” I started to breakdown, Clarke’s hand still in mine… when did I grab her hand….whatever it doesn't matter now I sat like that for hours and what felt like days before Abby showed up.”can you save her?” I asked sounding more desperate than I would have liked, and less desperate than I actually was.  
“I think so, what happened, who shot her, I will…”  
“Abby we need to save her first, then everything else” Nyko said as they prepared to operate. I saw tears streaming down Abby’s face and realized how hard this must be for her  
“Right, everyone should clear the room or at least this area for now.”  
“I am not leaving Clarke”I said  
“Very well, you might not wanna watch, though.” Abby replied as she started to operate. About ten minutes later they had finished and were closing up the wound. “She should wake up soon,” Abby said and I looked up from my hidden tears hopefully and waited for the eternity of 27 minutes and then she woke up.  
“Lexa?” Clarke said, “Mom?” She sounded happy and scared and in pain all at once so I squeezed her hand which I had apparently grabbed once again.  
“Clarke, Clarke, my baby, you are gonna be ok.” Abby said crying, “you’re out of the woods now”  
Clarke weakly touched my face, “you’re ok… Titus didn’t shoot you… i can’t lose you either, he had the gun pointed at you but you’re ok.” I leaned down and kissed her, which created a shocked Abby  
“You saved me, Clarke… You saved me”  
“Did you mean it when you said you loved me?”  
“How’d you hear that? You were asleep.”  
“No i was in a coma, did you mean it?” she asked in a hopeful and scared tone.  
“Yes” I said, embarrassed. As she tried to kiss me and I ended up aiding her in it. All of a sudden, the door opened.  
“Hedda, the blockade goes into effect at dawn, your horse is prepared.” Damnit I forgot about the blockade and now I have to leave  
“Bring Clarke, the doctor, and the outcast along to my tent. None of them sided with Pike” I spat out that last word, Pike, the man who had caused this situation…


	2. The key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson tries to get Clarke to take the key, Lexa has Costia flashbacks and struggles to control her emotions

Clarke  
When I heard Lexa say she loved me all I wanted to do was to show her how much I loved her and then when I was about to say it a guard walked in and ruined the moment. I guess at least we can have it alone soon, without my mom there. Stupid Titus who can go float himself…  
As we arrived at the tent, Nyko brought me and Abby to the healers tent, Lexa brushed my hair then started to leave, “Lexa,” I gasped as she rushed back to me.  
“I’m here, Clarke. I’m here.” She said worried. “I have to go now, to my people, but I will be back soon” She looked about ready to cry, but she swallowed it down and walked out of the tent in her commander mentality. It’s like she is two different people, Hedda and Lexa. I had thought that before, the first time was when she told me about Costia, then when she had kissed me and left me at mt weather, and in Polis many times.   
About two hours later, Lexa showed back up. I heard her give a speech and stuff and then I knew she went to strategize with her war generals but I couldn’t make out what she said in her speech, or if I could, I was way too out of it too tell. “Hey Clarke,” she said as I started coughing and hacking up blood, again. “Clarke, are you ok?”  
“She is fine,” Abby said, “it is a symptom and as long as it stops within the next 24 hours she should be fine.” I could hear the nervousness in my mother’s voice and it was obvious that Lexa heard it too. “It’s not safe to bring her to Arcadia, but if the wound is worse than we realized and she continues to cough up blood then the only way to save her will be to use our technology.” Abby replied to Lexa’s nervous look.   
“You need to save her here, from what I have heard, they execute any of my people attempting to enter the city.” Lexa said, and my heart dropped thinking about how if she got desperate then people would die to save me.  
“If it comes down to it,” I gasped out, “don’t put any other lives on the line to save me.” I said as a tear slipped down my cheek. I knew that with the way the bullet wound hit and how I felt, I was just buying time and I had a gut feeling that it was worse than my mom’s optimistic predictions. I’m not actually out of the woods but I can’t say anything or people will die rushing me to Arcadia. A wave of exhaustion hit me after everything that had happened and I decided that sleep was the best option, at least for now. Hopefully I will wake up. “I think I’m gonna rest for a while,” I said, and I was asleep before anyone could say anything.  
I woke up in the middle of the night violently vomiting blood and bile. The bullet must’ve punctured my stomach, I realized, but not much. Just enough to let blood in. Or maybe Titus hit me with a scatter round. That would explain it, but that’s not possible or it would be in other places too. It must’ve just opened it enough for stuff to get in and out. “Clarke, oh god, Clarke, are you ok?” I heard a faint voice among the ringing in my head as the pain became unbearable and pretty quickly I became lightheaded and passed out.  
I worked my way back to consciousness inside a tunnel, this must be the one to Arcadia, I thought. Though my head pounded and everything hurt under my rib cage, I could faintly see Jackson, wow, my vision is blurry, head hurts, and the worst physical pain of my life. How did raven teach us how to rig the ship when the bullet in her had reached her spine? She is tougher than I thought. “What happened?” I asked in a faint voice that sounded like I was speaking far away.  
“Since you were shot while airborne, the bullet moved down, and into your stomach on the back side and so we didn’t notice it earlier. We had to open you up to close the wound, and Bile had gotten into your system so it was looking really bad. It still isn’t looking good but there is a chance.”  
“Where’s my mom?” I said, dreading the answer. I knew that she could’ve gotten killed trying to get me here, or Lexa, or anyone. “How did I get here?”  
“Your mom is in Arcadia, I sort of made her go grab a meal, she was so stressed. You got here without being seen and you are currently under Arcadia, or maybe the wall.” Jackson said. “Meanwhile, Clarke, this is this will get rid of all of your pain.” He said, handing me a chip.  
“The sacred symbol,” I muttered as it caught my eye. “What is this, Jackson?”  
“It’s the key. To the city of light, where there is no pain, emotional or physical. Everyone is welcome there. Your mom wouldn’t take it, but maybe after you see it’s benefits, then you can convince her too.”  
“How does it work?” I asked, interested, but confused, “why does it have the sacred symbol? Oh, and why didn’t my mom take it?”  
“Your mom wanted to do her own studies on it, although it has been previously studied. It blocks the pain receptors in your brain. You won’t feel pain.” He said.  
“Isn’t that bad, though, if you say get injured and can’t feel it?”  
“In the city of life there is no death, or worries, or pain, or injuries. You don’t have to worry about anything.”  
“I want to talk to my mom first.” I said, “then I might take it.”  
“She should be back soon.” Jackson said, “then you both can take the key.”  
Lexa  
I couldn’t stop thinking about Costia, and the day she was captured by the ice queen. How I could have saved her. How by loving her I caused her to be tortured and was the reason she was killed.  
“Hedda, Azgeda attacked, they took Costia hostage along with 3 guards and their seconds.” Another guard had told me. I had to keep my emotions in check around my people, so as not to look weak, but that didn’t change the situation. I hated how vulnerable and guilty I felt. I was ready to mount a full scale offensive into azgeda to save her but I knew that wasn’t smart. No one who was captured knew anything important and so I would be doing it for personal reasons. Plus if I failed, Nia would definitely torture Costia even more for my secrets. I ended up sending in a single team to save her but she was already dead and when I got back to my room less than a week later, I completely broke down. They had to fix practically everything after I broke it.   
I hadn’t felt like how Costia made me feel ever, until I met Clarke. I hadn’t even realized how much I had clenched down till she lost the boy, Finn. I told her about Costia, and realized that it was the first time I had mentioned her since the whole situation ended. I had found myself opening up to this sky girl without even knowing her that well, but she was beautiful and she did everything for her people. She knew what it was like to be a leader, she killed the man she loved for her people. It brought back memories of Costia. The memories were painful but it only fueled her into stopping herself from feeling. I had numbed myself intentionally after Costia. Love is weakness, I had thought. It became my mantra, if Inever felt anything or let myself get close to people then I wouldn’t put them at risk. Then Clarke saved her from the pauna. All she wanted to do was tell Clarke how she felt, kiss her, talk with her, and be vulnerable for a moment. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t let her guard down, especially around the sky girl. When Clarke was talking about how they let everyone die in the bomb, and I said “not everyone, not you,” it was my way of trying to tell her how I felt. And I guess I thought it could’ve been special, but instead she was still focused on Octavia. Then, when she had said that life should be about more than just survival, I lost control. I put down my emotions to protect people I cared about, and to get rid of potential weaknesses. But if life was about more than surviving then what would one kiss do. Clarke said she wasn’t ready,more specifically, not yet. But she left our future possible. I hoped she would come with me to Polis after mount weather, but then Cage threatened to kill each and everyone of my people while he had guns held to their heads. If I attacked then we could’ve saved only some of them. Then she became Wanhedda, and I had to capture and protect her from Nia, the bitch who killed Costia. As the spear I threw went into her chest, I could only think of Costia and Clarke and how I was getting my revenge. It seemed that all the women I loved were at risk from her, and when Titus tried to kill Clarke and then she saved me, I broke. If love truly is weakness then Clarke is mine. And now I can’t be with her, I don’t even know if she is alive, or if she will recover and it is my fault. And I somehow have to keep it together for my people. Why did I let myself get attached? Every time I love someone and become close to them they get hurt or die. My parents, Costia, Clarke, and Anya. And their deaths are all on me, I sent Anya to attack skaikru, my blood made the fleimkeppas kill my parent’s, and Nia tried to kill Clarke after torturing and killing Costia for information. When Titus shot Clarke, I realized again that I need to prioritize survival, my people. I can’t love someone because they will always get hurt. Love is weakness.   
I closed my eyes and called on the commanders. I wanted to talk to one in particular, her name was Calliope and she was the second commander. She understood better than anyone how love is weakness could be wrong sometimes. “So, what advice do you have for me? I do not know what to do? I agreed to let the skaikru escapees join our camp under precautions but this is all complicated.”  
“First of all, loving Clarke is not a bad thing. You know how to distance yourself when necessary, you’re standing here today with your army intact. Going to war with skaikru would’ve been a bloodbath and although you would have likely won, you would have had heavier casualties then skaikru. Secondly, don’t put much faith in the rebels, heed their warnings but know that they would rather Pike and skaikru triumph if it came to war. They most want Pikes regime to end but the survival of their people matters to all of them.”   
“Thank you, Hedda.” I said respectfully, “I think I know what to do now.” I started to think about how everyone I loved got hurt. Calliope was right, I know how to distance myself. As a result, distancing myself is what I will do. I will love Clarke, but I won’t act on it. Life is about survival and I would like to ensure Clarke’s survival.  
“Bring me Titus” I snapped at a guard.  
“Yes, Hedda.” He replied bowing and leaving. A few minutes later Titus was standing before me, shackled and probably scared.   
“Leave us” I said to the guard, resisting the urge to make Titus feel the worst pain possible. “Why, Titus?” I asked, doing my best to portray a calm appearance despite the rage stirring in my heart.  
“You know why, Hedda. Your feelings for Clarke cloud your judgement. Remember my teachings, love is-”  
“I will not hear this again. You shot Clarke, you are only alive because you are a fleimkeppa, but soon you will wish you were dead. If you think killing all of skaikru is smart, then we would be wiping out enemies as well as friends. There is a rebellion in Arcadia and if they fail then they all die anyways from starvation. This is a slower war that will cost less lives of our people and possibly innocent skaikru lives. Oh, and you and I both no that killing Clarke will not give me her power, so that is pointless. Why do you think this is a bad thing?” I said, unable to have control over the rage and hate in my voice, “When you brought up Costia a few days ago, I forgave you. I won’t make the same mistake this time.”  
“Hedda, please. You must attack skaikru or you will look weak, this will cost you your life. If I had killed Clarke and blamed it on the thief John Murphy then you would’ve declared war, your weakness would be dead. I did the right thing. I will not apologize for it and you should see that. Remember my teachings-”  
“I said I will not hear this again. How dare you accuse me of being weak.” I yelled, completely losing any shred of control I had left over my emotions as I pulled out a knife and started slicing open Titus over and over again. “The kill belongs to Clarke, but you will suffer from my hand for this treachery.” I snapped as I plunged my knife through his hand.  
Clarke  
What is this key that Jackson mentioned. It has the sacred symbol, although I don’t know if that means anything. Maybe Lexa would know. I snapped out of my thoughts as my mom appeared by my side, “Clarke! You’re ok! The wound should heal now, you're safe.”  
“Mom,” I said, worried, “Mom I need to know what this key Jackson is talking about is.”  
“Jackson’s been chipped?” My mom said, turning pale.  
“Abby, why do you say that like it is a bad thing?” Jackson asked, “In the city of light there is no pain. Everyone is happy.”  
“Well being mind controlled by the crazy lady in the red dress who steals your memories? Do you even remember why you became a doctor, Jackson?” I watched, confused as to what this chip was. Jackson hesitated and looked to his left before starting to answer when my mom cut him off. “He became a doctor because of his father's death. Sometimes pain is necessary. Raven knew that, and that is why she wants to remove the chip. Come on Jackson, stop letting her control your mind.” I was confused, it seemed like my mom was initially talking to someone else, then she kept mentioning some invisible lady in the red dress. “Don’t take the chip, Clarke.” I was so confused.   
“Jackson, can I speak to my mom alone?” I said trying to make sense of the situation.  
“I can’t let you do that, Clarke.” He said as he pulled out a scalpel and put it to his own wrist. “Take the key or I die.”He started to slice open his wrist as my mom rushed over to help him but he used the scalpel to hold her off. Take the key and you can save me.”  
“Mom just wait till he can’t fight back then save him.” I shouted.  
“Good point, take the key or your daughter dies” Jackson says and he puts a bandage on his arm while holding off my mom and then he sedates her and ties her up. When she comes to, he starts with“You have one chance, take the key.”  
“Never,” she replied.   
“We will see about that” then he starts to walk over to me, probably thinking that cause of the bullet I can't fight back. Well it’s been over a day now and I sure as hell can fight back, although it won’t be easy. I told myself knowing that if I tried mostly anything the stitches would rip so I had to do something basic.  
That’s when I saw the reaper sticks and if I could just slide over the table a little bit then I could grab one. I looked at my mom, then looked to the leg of the table, then jolted my head back and at the same time I motioned to push me back with my fingers. Jackson’s eyes were closed and it looked sort of like he was meditating. My mom kicked the table and Jackson's eyes opened like a switch was flipped. It worked I realized as he came over to me with a scalpel and put it to my wrist. I grabbed the reaper stick with my other arm and stabbed it into his neck while using my other hand to grab the scalpel and toss it to my mom so she could cut herself lose.   
She broke the back of her chair against the tunnel wall and grabbed the scalpel and cut lose the bindings on her wrist before untying her legs and rushing over to me. Some of the stitches had broke and so she had to re do them. “If you give it about 2 days you should be able to walk around but you have to be careful until we can take the stitches out.” She said.  
“No, I have to move now, get to Arcadia. I need to talk sense into them” I said stubbornly. Give it a few hours and I will be able to walk well enough.”   
My mother looked frustrated, but I had to get to Arcadia. “Clarke they are executing people who act out against Pike, today we are planning a rescue for Sinclair, Lincoln, and Kane.”  
“Well then I definitely need to go there, I am allowed to speak out just not do anything besides protest.” I said, protesting my mom, “and mom what about the whole city of light thing?”  
“I put a stop to it a while ago but anyone who took the chip see’s this lady in a red dress and she basically, mind controls them or whatever. It takes away your memories, like Jaha forgot about Wells. That’s when I confiscated it. It’s the only thing Pike and I agree on. Raven realized this and she came up with a way to get it out of her head with the wrist bands and an EMP and Jasper is working on it now.” My mom replied, “but that’s another reason you can’t go back.”   
“Mom I’m going back,” I said, attempting to stand as my mother grabbed a reaper stick and used it on me.  
“Now I’m going to save the prisoners,” she said as I passed out.


	3. Prisoners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the skaikru prisoners escape to Lexa, and Clarke tries to go to Pike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to figure out how imma end this with a diff city of light plot and everything... but whatever— imma make it a series just like the show- wont be the same plot cause obviously I changed it-but timeline events still happen  
> \- city of light  
> Praimfaya  
> 6 years after praimfaya?  
> Alegius  
> Sanctum? Stay on earth?  
> Disciples?

Lexa

Abby should be here soon, according to Nyko, there were multiple skaikru prisoners along with Lincoln set to be executed for treason and I agreed to offer them safe passage into the blockade, although they would be restricted in their freedoms until Pike and his regime died. I didn’t much care about that, though. I only wanted to get news on if Clarke was ok. I heard riders telling me that they were here and that they were being brought to me. Soon, Octavia, Kane, and multiple people I didn’t know walked into the tent, surrounded by armed guards. “Where’s Lincoln?” I asked coldly, knowing that I had to keep a strong appearance.

“Lincoln sacrificed himself to save innocent lives, when Doctor Griffin was chancellor we invited your people in for medical attention. Pike imprisoned them because they knew too much once he became chancellor, and when we escaped he sent a message along the radio and stuff and he said that if one of us didn’t turn ourselves in then he would execute the other grounders. Lincoln turned himself in.” Kane said as Octavia turned away and was trying her best to stay strong. I felt for this girl, she lost someone she loved and felt like she had to stay strong.

“Who are the others?” I asked once again, my voice steely.

“This is Nathan Miller and Harper Mcintire. Indra and Bellamy Blake are in a cave not far from here, Bellamy offered to help at the last minute but since we don’t trust him, he’s currently tied up and we are ready to use him as a hostage.”

“Good, take me to them. What is the situation like in your camp, is Pike almost done?” I said, expecting the worst.

“There has been some unrest but anyone not farm station is loyal to Pike out of fear, Pike led farm station against Azgeda and about a third survived so everyone from their supports him and doesn’t trust any of you. Their belief is that they are finishing a war, not starting one.” Kane said.

As we started to walk, the girl named Harper said “If Miller and I go back, he has no proof that we are traitors yet so we can maybe try and take him down. If it takes shocklashing his fascist ass and handing him to you guys then we will do it.”

I was about to interject as Kane replied “I already tried that,” then he turned to me and said, “Pike has a battle plan, to attack one of your weaker outposts and when you wait for reinforcements, mine the field.”

My mind started to spin at this knowledge, “They can’t be serious. They wouldn’t stand a chance. They would kill a lot of us but in the end we would obliterate Arcadia.” That was easy to believe, but I had my doubts on if I could trust them. “How did you come by this knowledge? And one more thing, how is Clarke?”

“We bugged the chancellor's office-bugged means we placed a device that took what he said and played it on a radio, that’s how we warned the village about the attack. Clarke is recovering but she had to be sedated because she wouldn’t stop trying to get to Arcadia where she would be executed for treason.” The one called Sinclair said, I instantly panicked that she would walk into an execution trap but if she was sedated then she would be fine.

“Very well,” I said before switching to trig, “Once osir reach the cave, lock up the won called belomi en bring indra kom ai en bring em next.” I said. A few minutes later Indra walked over to me and Octavia was by her side, her face was tear stained and I could see the strain in her eyes as she tried not to cry. 

“Hedda,  **much of the resistance against Pike is already here with you. I suggest you attack at first light.** ” Indra said as Octavia just looked down to her feet.

“We must not attack skaikru yet, our people will suffer heavy casualties. I have been informed that they will run out of food and water soon, and so they will all die without us dying or they will attack and we will suffer less casualties.”

“You know what you could do?” Octavia said hopefully with suffering still heavy in her voice, “you could come in through the tunnel and steal the sleeping gas from the armory, then you could knock everyone out and imprison them. You can execute Pike and then give them a choice, follow Kane or Abby and have freedom in Arcadia as part of the coalition, or stay prisoners. Then you could confiscate their weapons except for the stun wands from the guards and leave a force nearby as a safeguard until skaikru can be trusted again.”

“Good plan, but I think that Clarke might be better suited to lead skaikru and Kane as the ambassador” I said, purposely wanting Clarke to lead so that she is safe from me. “Indra what do you think of this plan?”

“It is a good plan, although more than just Pike should die. Bellamy chose right eventually and spared my life and tried to spare my life originally, so his fate should be to become banished and the other 9 who attacked us should die with Pike.”

“Very well,” I said, “It is settled. I will go run it past Kane and see if he has a better idea, but meanwhile prepare a specialized assault team.” I saw Octavia flinch at the mention of her brothers banishment but she didn’t seem as upset as I would think. Kane seemed to agree to the plan and he warned me of a city of light and a girl called Allie that divided skaikru into 3 groups. Almost instantly my head started to split open as the spirit of the first commander started to try and talk to me. “I must go and think these new revelations over.” I said as I found a room to sit in and talk with Becca Promhedda and be alone.

“Hello, Lexa,” Becca started, “We have much to talk about.”

Clarke

This was the second time I woke up, only this time I haven’t been sedated right away.  _ If I slip out now... it’s been at least 20 hours that I’ve been out with the dosage and reaper sticks. I should be able to walk a little. _ I tried to stand up and succeeded. I started to walk and it was met with a small but manageable measure of dizyness.  _ Which way to Arcadia? _ I thought before remembering Kane and everyone went to the grounders and Lexa, the name made me more determined to get to Arcadia, if only so we can make peace and I can see her again.  _ I gotta go the opposite direction of their footsteps, the way my mom went originally.  _ I found the tracks in the mud easily, and then I saw some supplies my mom dropped on the way and I knew I was right. Partway down I saw Eric Jackson, tied up and gagged at one of the support pillars, he looked like he was meditating or whatever but I didn’t understand this chip thing and so I figured that it was important to figure that out first.  _ Finally, _ I thought as I saw the ladder to Arcadia’s secret entrance. I opened the door and slipped into the city before walking into the red plasticy streamer/door. “Clarke, how did you get here?” Was how I was greeted by Murphy, “I thought you were recovering from the gunshot in the tunnel and sedated. I was gonna come and sedate you again now as Abby’s orders.”

“Well you're too late then. Murphy how did you get here?” I asked

“I came here after Lexa let me go and I told Pike I escaped the grounder prison and he let me in, but he won’t let me bring Emori here. We have to stop Pike, Clark, Emori is a fugitive for stealing on the commanders road and she is also a criminal because of her hand which is the dumbest concept since floating people for stealing medicine to save their son's life.” Murphy said with hushed anger and pain quite noticeable in his voice. 

“Murphy you have to get me to Bellamy so we can talk him out of this.”

“Bellamy is gone along with the resistance, they left to save the prisoners.” He replied to me.

“Fine, bring me to Pike to prove your loyalty, and once he sentences me to death, the 100 will notice and hopefully fight back. If they ask about the gunshot wound, say you shot me because I was going to attack the Skaikru people who attacked the village. And Murphy, you can trust Raven, Jasper, and my mom I think. There is some chip called the city of light with a invisible woman in a red dress or something and they are gonna take it out of Raven.” I said in a hushed tone.

“I already know about that, I was with Jaha when he found it. The bitch in the red dress was the one who launched the bomb. Jaha calls it the key and has this chipmaker, maybe if we can get rid of it… he takes these like zen naps and visits the city of light. I’m pretty sure it’s called meditation or whatever. Titus called it the sacred symbol or whatever-” He said.

“Let’s focus on that once we take out Pike.” I said, “there is a lot you will have to tell me about it all. For now… Get me too Pike and then get my mother there too. And dress me up as your prisoner.”

“Got it.” Murphy said, “you sure you're up for this… I mean Wanhedda is pretty badass but getting shot in the gut by Titus… I guess I’m wondering if you are ok?”

“I’m able to handle being a prisoner… I can push through the pain.” I said through gritted teeth.

“Not just physically, mentally. You got shot by your girlfriend's advisor, and your girlfriend is currently laying siege to your people. That’s an interesting situation. Are you sure that you are ok?”

“We don’t have time for this, Murphy, but while we are on the topic, you just got tortured over a chip from Jaha so you don’t have a great platform to be asking me if I’m all right. But now take me to Pike.” I said as Murphy used the rope that Titus tied me with to bind my hands with a loose knot that I could undo with a flick of my wrists. 

Pikes guards opened the door as I saw Jaha and my mother arguing well Pike rolled his eyes.

“Jaha, you forgot who Wells was. This- unless I run every study in the books and find nothing dangerous about it, then I will keep it confiscated.” I heard my mother shout before looking to the door, “Clarke? What’re you doing here?”

“Chancellor Pike, as proof of my loyalty, I have brought you Clarke Griffin. She has lived alone and among the grounders, even after our declaration of war and our rejection of their coalition.” Murphy said with a tone of disgust as he talked about the grounders, just to add on to the charade.

“What happened to you, Clarke? Why are you bandaged?” My mom asked.

“I shot her when she tried to attack us when you sent men to that village. Kane let her know of the attacks, and I found her and she told me what was going on. I told her not to attack our people but she wouldn’t listen. I had no choice.” Murphy said.

“An elaborate tale, but Mr. Murphy, you went with Jaha to find the city of light and you didn’t come back to camp. Where have you been, and what have you been doing?” PIke questioned, obviously suspicious.

“When we landed, the grounders tortured me and used me as a vessel for a bio weapon, when we left for the city of light, grounders betrayed and robbed us. I left after the grounders tried to kill me. I do not trust them, and I have been stealing from them to survive.” I noticed that Murphy did not lie once in that sentence.

“Guards, take Clarke Griffin to lock up. Murphy, you will have to earn my trust fully soon. Clarke Griffin is sentenced to death for treason, you will be the one to pull the trigger. If you do this, I will believe your tale, and welcome you home with open arms.” Pike ordered

“Yes mr. Chancellor.” I heard him say as I was escorted to lockup.


	4. Infiltration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa infiltrates Skaikru, Clarke faces a surprise attacker.

Lexa

I keep replaying the night, from when Clarke confirmed that she was gonna leave to when I almost told her I loved her, to when she heard me say it in that coma but couldn’t remember it. But the part that I saw every time I tried to close my eyes, or even just sat still with nothing to do was the bullet leaving Clarke’s back and bouncing harmlessly off my arm as I caught Clarke and carried her to the bed. I could still see her bloodstains on my shirt, and I could still feel her limp, bleeding body in my arms. It’s exactly how I felt after hearing Costia was gone, finding her head at my bedside. And just like then I still have to handle a crisis situation. “What is it, Becca?” I asked the first commander in an exasperated tone. 

“The city of light chip, it is similar to the flame. It is an earlier model of it. I know this because I made the ai who made it. Unlike the flame, this ai, I called her Allie, didn’t need a human host and so it didn’t understand what it was like to be human and got out of control and all of that. You need to shut it down. Infiltrate Skaikru through the tunnel, lead the charge and kill if you must. Allie must be stopped now or the death toll will be catastrophic.” Becca replied.

“You know, Becca, I will take your advice but what about Clarke. I can’t just attack her people.” I said.

“Listen to me, skaikru has the grenades of the maunon. You need to imprison everyone separately and use an EMP to get rid of the chip in their head if they are chipped. The one called Jacapo Sinclair is an engineer, mention this to him. Or, you need to take the chip yourself and get rid of Allie, but that would be potentially bad. Use the EMP on people who can code, mechanics, and engineers. You have to do this.”

“You rarely ever give out guidance so I know this must be legit, I will infiltrate skaikru.” I snapped back to reality, and found Kane. I then relayed the part about the EMP and found where the armory is. I prepared a specialized task force to strike in 3 hours time and once again tried to get some sleep, and this time I was so exhausted that I actually fell asleep. I had nightmares about Clarke getting shot and dying in my arms, Clarke hating me over mount weather, and Titus killing Clarke. I woke up to Titus standing over me, inserting a scalpel into my neck. I shot up and kicked his knee before using his scalpel to stab his one hand into the pole in the center of the tent. Then I knocked him out with a blow to the head and had him tied on a tree. I had become restless, I needed to fight. I needed this battle. Skaikru had their chance, tomorrow we kill any of Pike’s followers. 

“Kane, I had an idea.” I said as I found him, “once we sort out the prisoners from chipped vs not chipped, we let them show us who is and isn’t with Pike by setting them up all together.” 

“That could work, you would want us imprisoned with them so that we could stage a rebellion against Pike. In prison, ruling by fear doesn’t work as well.” He agreed.

“Very well, the moon is almost hidden by clouds. At that time we will take one of your gun lights and Octavia will use it at the dim setting to find the tunnel and we will attack and quite possibly lay waste to Arcadia. Cells are being prepared in Polis now. May we meet again.” I finished in skaikru fashion, just like I did with Clarke before she was shot.  _ Oh god, I need to stay strong. I can’t let these memories and Clarkes situation control me _ .

“May we meet again,” Kane replied.

The infiltration force was made up of my most stealthy and agile warriors. Surprise and silence was key, so the group was made up of only 28 men and women. The one called Monty gave instructions on how to get through the doors in exchange for his and Bellamy’s life. Octavia’s light was one of 4 to turn on at 4 even distances from Arcadia along with many torches all over. This was meant to give the illusion that we were advancing. Riders were sent to the gates under orders to leave written warnings that Skaikru had 1 week to turn over Pike or we would destroy their water supply and many other veiled threats.

As we prepared to enter the tunnel, we ran over the plan one more time. “ **Raid the food stores, then if they haven’t sounded the alarm, raid the armory and use the gas grenades. If they have figured out that we are here then we will retreat to lock up where we will save our people there. From there we will fall back to the tunnel where our forces have assembled and will charge at my command if required. Nyssa and Alec, you will be in the second line and move up at every door needing opening. Octavia will make sure we navigate correctly. Everyone got it?** ” I asked.

“Yes, Hedda.” They replied as I signaled to go and we entered the tunnel. When we made it to the other end, we heard movement but I recognized the voices as Abby and Murphy speaking about Clarke, but then I heard Jaha’s voice. I gave the signal to hold up before I heard Abby say something about the city of light and I thought back to Becca’s warning. I heard them leave and I gave the signal to enter as I opened the entrance. We all filled up the hallway as we left to go to the food storage.

I signaled to attack, and I watched 3 knives fly through the air into the guards throats. I stood up and started to move forward but one of the civilians was apparently robbing the food stores themselves. When he saw us, I recognized him as John Murphy. “What are you doing here Murphy?” I asked in a hushed tone.

“Stealing medical supplies and food for Clarke and your people in lockup. Oh and for the escape.” He replied casually.

“Clarke’s in lockup??” I asked confused, I thought she was hiding till she recovered.

“Long story, but yeah. Her execution is set for today at sundown but many of the original 100, and some others who were trapped in Mt. Weather and saved by her including me have a plan. We are gonna fall back to a secret location.” He explained.

“Go to us, we will provide you with protective custody. We are currently helping Kane and his people.” I encouraged him.

“I will run it over with the leaders of the operation, but no guarantees.” He responded. Half of me wanted to go to Clarke and save her myself but I knew that it wasn’t the right way to fix this whole situation. “ **Take the food,** ” I said as my people raided all of the food that John Murphy didn’t have on him. “ **Now, the armory.** ”

“Armory is that way,” Murphy said, surprising me with his understanding of Trig, “A friend taught me a bit of your language.” He replied to my skeptical look. “Oh, and if you want to know who you can trust, if they say ‘whatever the hell we want’ after asking when did you fall from the sky, then they are trustable.”

“ **Let’s go,** thanks Murphy.” I said as I turned down the corner where I saw a younger man walking out of one of the rooms before starting to open his mouth when my knife found his throat, “Let me make this very clear, if you even twitch then your throat will have a large hole in it. Who are you? When did you fall from the sky?” I hissed into his ear.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything, I do whatever the hell we want. But if you must know, I’m Randall.” He whispered back, “now can I go about my business, also are you grounders or Pikes men who once again think I’m a traitor.”

**“He's with us, for now.** ” I told my warriors in a whisper as I released the knife and my firm hold from his neck.

“So you are grounders, come with me, I can bring you to our group. We are gonna strike tonight at sundown, currently it is 0200 hours, so we have time to figure out a better plan with you.” 

“We already have a plan, but your group can help. Go make a diversion to get rid of some of the armory guards, or distract them enough that we can kill them without one of them sounding the alarm.”

“Better idea, we have two people guarding it right now, just tell them whatever the hell we want and they will let you in, you have to only get past half the guards before you reach them, it is early so they have lower shifts on.”

“Very well,” I said before conveying the plan to my people. When we showed up, one of our people who came in full skaikru clothes and look, went up to a guard.

“Sir, sir, help me!” She said in a skaikru accent and high pitched and scared voice.

“What?” The guard responded.

“I found Octavia, hidden here. She didn’t see me. If you come with me, to bring her in then maybe Pike will reward us!! Maybe even extra rations… I would love some extra rations.”

“Hmm, ok but I bring my other guard too. Octavia is a threat. You did the right thing coming for help.” The guard said and as soon as the three of them entered the hall, the two guards were knocked out as we came to the next set of guards.

“Whatever the hell we want.” I said as they passed aside and looked at us.

“Your grounders?” One of them asked.

“Yes, we are using your gas grenades to take your city. Get masks on, you can help identify who else is in your little rebellion.” I commanded as we all put masks on and moved around the fallen ship, releasing the gas in the air vents. An alarm went off, but there was enough gas to knock out everyone in the whole place.

Clarke

Murphy could explain the entrance as sneaking in as he had done before, from outside. He had too. If not then his cover was blown. I was shoved into lockup where I found the grounders who had come to us for medical help. I was confused, but after they explained how Pike locked them up, I started to help the ones who couldn’t recover well. I couldn’t do much because of the gunshot wound but it was better than nothing. After a few hours, pink gas like from mount weather filled up the air vents and at the same time, Murphy rounded the corner carrying gas masks for us. “Here put these on.” He yelled, “to protect you from the gas.” As we all put on masks, I saw Lexa and a small amount of grounders come and start working on the lock. 

“Lexa!!” I yelled, overjoyed at seeing her. As the door was pried open, I saw the warning on her face so I just brushed her hand to make sure it wasn’t noticed by everyone else. 

As we reached the tunnel, Lexa sent in around 100 warriors. She captured and imprisoned everyone that wasn’t assured as against Pike by the people who had masks. I was sent through the tunnel along with the grounder prisoners. As we came up the other end, I was brought to a medical tent where I was treated with care, apparently the people there thought that I was shot by Pike’s people. Lexa was able to twist the story to make me out to be someone who was on their side. I enjoyed the people not hating me for being skaikru, but most of all, I missed Lexa. The others who had been here already all came and seeing them was great, although it got awkward at times. They all left me to sleep and that is what I did, I woke up to Lexa sitting next to me in a private tent. “How much do you remember?” She asked in a worried voice.

I put my hand to her face and she flinched away, “i got shot and then a while later, I was being transported to a tunnel, that’s all vague and whatever happened in between, while that I forgot. Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask as I see the tear sliding down her face.

“We can’t do this, Clarke. I love you, but by being with you and acting off of that love, I put you in danger. I’m sorry, but if I hadn’t let my love get the better of me then you would not have been shot. It is just like if I hadn’t let myself love Costia then she would still be alive today. Love is weakness, to be commander means that I must be alone.” She says.

“I’m confused, Lexa. You love me, so why not be with me. I survived, I can defend myself. You don’t need to leave me to protect me.” I said as I leaned in towards her to give her a kiss.

She backed away, “Don’t make this harder than it is, Clarke.” She blinked back tears, or at least that’s what it looked like, and walked out of the room. I blinked back my own tears as I pushed myself out of bed and walked out after her.

“Lexa, you don’t need to do this. Lexa, please.” I said as I continued to hold back my own tears.

“I’m sorry, Clarke. Truly.” Lexa shut me down again. “Right now, I have to work on stopping this city of light and dealing with the Skaikru prisoners.”

“You know about the chip? I can tell you what I know, and who I know is chipped.” I replied, hoping she might actually look at me.

“Clarke, Becca Promhedda told me what I need to know and who can help me.” I was confused. “Through the flame,” She answered to my confused look. I never understood this spirit of commander's stuff, and I didn’t want to base stopping some crazy AI off of religion but I decided to lay off for now and focus on getting Lexa back before I lost her for good. 

“Lexa, I…” I said as I forgot what i was gonna say as soon as I grabbed her hand, “Lexa, I didn’t survive that bullet so that you could just dump me. I love you Lexa.” I was so desperate I played the guilt trip card.  _ Maybe she deserves someone better than me… I have to get her back though, I don’t know what I would do if I lost her for good. _

“I’m sorry, Clarke.” Lexa flinched away from me, still without looking me in the eyes, “I can’t.”

“Then at least look at me when you say it, if you’re gonna break my heart again. If you’re really gonna do this then look me in the eyes when you do it.” I replied, doing my best to keep my voice down, but not well.

“I can’t do that either,” She said as she turned on her heel and walked off down the hallway.

I turned and went back to the makeshift medical bay like I was supposed too, before turning down a different hallway where Titus was being held. I walked into the room, and before I knew it I was beating the shit out of him. “You ruined my relationship, you shot me, you destroyed whatever happiness I had left in my life, you made Lexa close off and leave me AGAIN. GO FLOAT YOURSELF!” I finished shouting at him when the stitches tore open again, but I still beat the shit out of him. 

I walked back to the medical bay, trying to stop the bleeding. I saw my mom working with Jackson, Nyko, and some of the other grounder healers. I had myself stitched up before going back to sleep. When I woke up, I found out that I would be put in a place to vouch for and prosecute other skaikru members. Once Lexa had determined who was with Pike, she would give them all a trial for show and assurance. Today, Pike was to be executed along with Titus. One week from today, the trials would start. I was going to start the execution of Titus since I was the one who was shot by him, and Pike was going to die in a more excruciating way than it would have been with Fin had I not killed him. When I thought of that, I felt his blood seeping into my hands as I slid the knife through him. I could barely breathe. I put my hands on the bed and gasped. It was over as soon as it started though, my mom was right there and I was breathing heavy. “Clarke what’s wrong?” She asked, worried.

“Nothing mom,” I replied as I stood up, “Imma go get lunch.” 

I walked down the hallway towards lunch and I was grabbed and my mouth was muffled with a wet cloth. I tried to scream but I couldn’t. I kicked backwards between my abductors legs and then swung my leg into the back of there knee. As their grip pinning my arms loosened, I grabbed the knife that was going towards my throat and maneuvered my body so that I could land a sidekick to the ribs. In doing so my stitches once again broke. I finally saw my attackers face, he was Titus.

“So, didn’t know I got out? One of my people agreed with me and so they broke me out. Now I will kill you.” Titus said in a quiet I voice.  I tried to make words out but whatever he had in that cloth must have drugged me and stopped me from talking. “Ohhh, you can’t talk. Right. I put morphine on the cloth, and your Skaikru people explained that the radiation mutated it to work to numb the throat if you breath it in even though it used to be a pain reliever.” 

I was being backed into a corner and as I reached it, Titus’s hand shot out towards my neck. I grabbed it and twisted it before flipping him over my head into the wall. I dived forward as I let go, rolled and then ran out of their, blood soaking my shirt. “Clarke?” Lexa asked as she saw me stumble bleeding into the hall.


	5. Numbed Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa goes after Titus, meanwhile Allie tries to keep Raven submissive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sry for the long break, I had summer hw then MLB playoffs starting and Fantasy Baseball ending and Fantasy football starting and I’m taking my 1st AP class this yr so overwhelmed   
> Hit a little writers block cause I wrote diff original but sorta completely redid it to fit the whole city of light plot in, next one should be up soon  
> Might write an echo/ash based fic cause that whole story is interesting and i haven’t found any of those yet
> 
> Also show is coming to an end so comment ur favorite character from each season and ur favorite season, imma put mine in notes at bottom

Lexa

“Clarke?” I asked as I saw her limping down the hallway, bleeding, “Oh my god Clarke are you ok?” 

“It’s Titus-he busted out. He has friends on the inside. And it’s just the stitches, they popped.” She answered looking more shaken than hurt, “He was in that room.”

“Go to the med bay, I have to address this.” I said as I stormed off to Titus’s prison. He wasn’t there, and I thought about where he might make his move. He hates skaikru and the trials are this afternoon so I figured that it would be a good target. I chose 3 of my most loyal and discreet warriors to infiltrate Titus’s operation. Along with that, I doubled the guard presence at the Skaikru trials. As I was rounding the corner, I stumbled and instantly some of the noise from the room next to me stopped. I kept walking down the hallway loudly before turning back and listening in. 

“We should take the flame out of Lexa, and then once we have eliminated all of Skaikru we can put it back in her.” I heard a voice say before I heard Titus start to speak.

“We will attack the Skaikru prison when the first one goes to trial, kill them all, and then we will figure the rest out. Hedda keeps the flame, remember our objective is Skaikru. I have served under many commanders, none have been as smart, brave or wise as Lexa. Her only lapse has been her love for Clarke, once we kill Clarke and all of skaikru, she will shut off like she did after I had Azgeda kill Costia and become the best commander she can be.” Titus had Costia killed? I couldn’t think. My brain was red, I couldn’t see right. I charged in.

“YOU! HAD! COSTIA! KILLED!” I screamed, “I will kill you in a more painful way than anyone before. You will die for this, then you will be revived with Skaikru medicine before dying again. Over and over.” I charged at him pushing off everyone in my way before I was hit in the back of the head with the butt of a sword.

I woke up on an operating table where I felt a pain in the back of my head. I tried to go to the flame but I just felt emptiness. “Hello, Hedda.” Titus said, “You won’t have the flame until this situation with Skaikru is taken care of, then you get it back.”

I couldn’t believe it, I felt so numb. These last few days were some of the worst of my life, everything coming towards me like a Skaikru ship coming from the sky and throwing my fragile coalition into disarray. I was empty, I couldn’t feel emotions. I started to focus on the pain in my neck, which wasn’t hard since it was the only thing to be felt. 

All of a sudden the table I was on fell and I caught myself on my hands and knees before springing into action and seeing the Fleimkeppa trainee Gaia attacking Titus. She grabbed the flame from his box and pulled it out as I was fighting alongside her. “Ascende superius” She whispered as I grabbed it and put it into my neck. Unlike past commanders, the flame had transitioned into my mind without much complication. The incision to take it out caused more pain but at this point, I needed the pain cause without it then I would be a completely mindless zombie Hedda. I fought my way out before charging back in to save the younger Fleimkeppa. As I got her out, I kicked Titus in the shin before landing a knife in his side and pushing him into one of his soldiers. I made it out and ran to my tent.

“Thank you, Gaia.” I said as I stopped, “If you would like, you will now be fleimkeppa. Titus is to die for his various crimes. I must go now, Skaikru trials should have already started.” 

Clarke

I ran back to med bay and since it was empty I stitched myself up before walking out. I knew I had to go back later today for a checkup but I figured I might as well get stuff done before then. I planned on finding Titus and his group and gathering intel before busting in their with Lexa, Octavia, and a army full of grounders. It had been 3 days since the invasion now and this was the beginnings of Titus’s group. I figured that if I could sneak in and kidnap Titus, I could talk it out with him and maybe figure this out. The problem was, they weren’t in the spot where Titus attacked me earlier, and Lexa wouldn’t tell me where they were meeting before she rushed off to the trials. As I was walking down the hallways of Arcadia, I found Raven after hearing music blasting from her room. “Raven?” I asked, “What the hell is going on here?”

“I have to get her out of my head” She shouted.

“Get who out of your head?” I was so confused.

“The bitch in the red dress, this is how I get her out of my head even momentarily.” She replied as she turned off the music. “I figured out how to use an EMP to get her out but with the invasion we never got around to it, and Jaha destroyed the wristbands before he could get to them. I’m trying to figure out a different way to build an EMP but I’m coming up empty and everything I think or see, she sees.”

“I know where a wristband is,” I said thinking back to Niylah, “It’s-”

“Don’t tell me where it is, or she will know-gahhhh” Raven screamed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as she cringed and fell to the ground.

“It’s her, she doesn’t want me leaving.” Raven said as she collapsed to the ground. I ran to the hallway to get her help and two grounders put her on a stretcher and carried her to med bay, she had been granted limited access due to the chip in her brain, but she wasn’t a prisoner because she was fighting it and they didn’t want her to not help them. As we were walking down the hallway Raven stopped writhing for a moment and managed to whisper out “Help.” 

As we walked into the med bay I sedated her instantly and left her in my mom’s care, but my mom wasn’t there.  _ Oh yeah, the trials _ I thought to myself as I filled Nyko and Cole, the skaikru med trainee after my arrest who had been the sole survivor of Mecca station when he fell out of a hole that tore open in the side of the ship and crash landed in polis using his shirt as a parachute. He was still recovering from the injuries and had lost a decent amount of function in his right arm, but he was left handed and could still help around a lot. 

I walked down the hallway to find Monty and see what I could do with the wristband as an EMP. Monty explained how it would work and we started to get some people together. I knew a few people from my time in Polis, and as much as I didn’t want him too, Murphy tagged along with Emori in case we needed their knowledge about the chip and it’s tech. So far, we had a team of Murphy, Emori, Monty, Octavia, Harper, Miller, and his boyfriend Brian. We agreed to get prepared and get Raven in 7 hours so that we had time before the reaper stick wore off. I walked down the hallway too see what happened to my mom and Jasper, and try and get them to come with too Niylah’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S-1 Raven  
> S-2/3 Clarke  
> S-4 Murphy  
> S-5 Murphy  
> S-6 Echo  
> S-7 Echo


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SELF HARM/SUICIDE ATTEMPT IF THAT IS TRIGGER THEN DONT READ  
> Skaikru trials start  
> Clarke helps Raven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SELF HARM/SUICIDE ATTEMPT IF THAT IS TRIGGER THEN DONT READ  
> I’ve self harmed/attempted/used before and so ik what it’s like and I also know that it can be a trigger to hear about it, for me this is a way to cope but it doesn’t work like that for everyone so if it is a trigger don’t read
> 
> Sry it’s so long-i thought i could fit it in in 8 chpt but idk if I can at this point

Lexa

The trials started with Pike getting a guilty verdict, before everyone was given a fair trial. You would either be put to death for working with Pike and supporting him, and helping him slaughter the army and invade the village, or tortured for giving him your support the whole time. You would be tortured less if you changed at the end, and if it was clear that you only helped because loved ones were threatened or if you were a bystander you were let off the hook. We had gone through a third of the people who weren’t chipped by the end of day one when we got to Jasper’s trial. “Jasper was too drunk to care, he didn’t even realize what was going on. He was just a clueless bystander.” That was how it started for him, and the narrative didn’t change. By the end of it he looked like he could barely hold himself together. After his trial, there was one scheduled for Clarke’s mom. We had each ambassador and myself vote on innocence or guilt and to what degree. Jasper was deemed a bystander but we were taking a dinner recess before capping off the day with Clarke’s mother’s trial.

I was walking down the hallway to dinner when I heard a gunshot. I rushed in and found Jasper bleeding with a hole in his chin and he was holding the gun up to his head. “Jasper, don’t do this.” I said calmly, “I know where you’re coming from. I lost someone special to me too, her name was Costia. The pain is still there but it’s not what it once was.” It was clear that he couldn’t talk and he was shaking, it looked like he took a shot but angled the gun wrong and shot through the bone at the bottom of his chin and into the wall. “Now, put the gun down. I’m gonna take you to the healers, and we will get you safe and healthy. I know what you are feeling because I’ve felt it too. You aren’t alone, Jasper.” I said calmly as I hit the button on the Skaikru device that was supposed to alert people that I was in an emergency, they called it a radio. I had granted many pardons for Skaikru technology and it was already paying off. I sat with Jasper, holding what was once the sleeve of my shirt up to his chin and I had one arm around his shoulder. He was crying silently as they sedated him and put him on a stretcher.

They said that if he had angled the gun the other way, he would have died and that he probably flinched when he took the shot, causing it to go through the bone, but after about a month, they said it should be healed. His friend, Monty, rushed in almost as soon as we got there, and didn’t leave his side except to grab food and drinks. Nyko and the skaikru trainee called Rex, said that the bullet went through his jawbone but with one operation and the regeneration tech, they could heal the bone in a few hours. He said that they had to take out the broken pieces and put them together and use a machine to repair them before using the bone marrow from a different part of his body along with some other stuff to seal the healed bone into place and within 24 hours, it would finish healing. They took bone Marrow from his shoulder and kept him unconscious for the surgery which I was told went by without complication.

“Abby Griffin, you are voted guilty in the first degree by this council for the crime of giving away your rank as Chancellor to Pike. You could have kept it, but instead you let the Skaikru people vote him into office, therefore causing the murders of 300 of our warriors and the invasion on one of our villages. Since you rebelled against Pike after he became chancellor, your death will be swift and you will be granted 1 day of freedom to get your affairs in order beforehand. If you try and run, your death will become slow and painful.” I said after the whole council of ambassadors voted guilty in the first degree, defeating my vote of not guilty. The only way to stop this execution was to grant her a pardon, or banish her from my lands. Those lands included Arcadia, considering that all of Skaikru was now under my control and coalition. They could govern themselves like all other clans but my word was final. 

“Halt,” I shouted to the guards as they were drawing her out, “Abby Griffin, I would like to spend some time alone with you, and you can offer me reason to commute your sentence to banishment or you can not give me enough reason to commute your sentence in which case you will die a more painful death. I believe the Skaikru phrase for it is double or nothing.”

“Ok, Hedda.” She replied, “I accept.”

“Very well,” I said, “Gaia will oversee the proceedings.” Once we were in a room alone I started the interrogations, “I have a few questions, starting with, is there a good reason that was not presented at your trial or that you think was not brought into context that you should be pardoned or banished? The second one is, tell me everything you know about the City of Light chip, and who has taken it.”

“Ok ummm,” She definitely sounded nervous, “I can teach your people better medical techniques, and I didn’t hand the chancellor’s pin over to Pike, he won an election that he joined last minute. I stopped him from killing your people but when he became chancellor I became powerless to stop it.”

“Very well, you have been sentenced, again. You will continue to teach skaikru healing techniques and once you tell me everything you know about the city of light chip you will be free to stay under the guard of my people inside the boundaries of this camp and then Polis once we get back there until I say otherwise.”

“Thank you.” She answered and you could hear the gratefulness in her voice. As she explained what she knew about the city of light I longed to be able to use the flame to understand better but I was left completely in the dark.

Once the information was verified, the council approved due to the medical knowledge that she could provide and the information on what they only knew as a new threat from the world before Praimfaya.

“Ahhhgh” A sharp, piercing pain was going into my brain from my neck. “Please, go get me Raven or Monty, or whoever can work on the flame.” I said as I went to my tent and reopened the scars that I put up and down my shoulders where it was always covered. I immersed myself in the physical pain, knowing that it would end, and acknowledging the fact that it provided a good distraction. As I fell asleep with tears in my eyes, I could only think of how much I hadn’t realized I felt like that person named Jasper. The only difference, he used a drink to numb himself, I used physical pain and strong will.

I was walking into the smaller medical wing for recovering patients where Monty was sitting with Jasper. I had heard that Raven was chipped but trying to get rid of it. That still wasn’t a risk that I was gonna take. “Monty, I need your help. You are an engineer, right?” I asked. He turned to look at me and I saw his eyes puffy and his cheeks tear stained.

“Jasper will be out for half an hour, can I be back when he wakes up?” He asked quietly.

“We can probably do it here.” I turned to my healer, “I need you to perform an incision in my neck and take out the flame.” I turned to a guard, “Come bring Gaia here.” I sat down in the medical chair and my healer cleaned the area before opening the stitches from when Titus had removed it. After using Skaikru technology to scan my brain for it, they took it out. “I’m gonna need you to figure out why this isn’t working in my brain.” I said. “I need answers fast.”.

“What the hell is this, and how did you just get your neck cut open and not flinch and not get it numbed?”

“That is the flame, you will work with Gaia on repairing it. For some reason it isn’t bonding with my mind properly. Keep this quiet and bring me the flame once you figured it out. Oh and pain and I came to an understanding a long time ago.” I left and went to my room for a nap, I was exhausted. I hadn’t had any actual sleep since Clarke got shot.

I woke up abruptly only a few hours after I fell asleep. I had gotten used to not sleeping much often and so I was able to function like normal with sleep deprivation. I decided to check on how the flame was going. I walked down to the recovery area where I found Jasper awake and talking, there were stitches on his chin, apparently Skaikru could seal bones together in a way that was able to allow them to withstand almost as much as a normal bone until they finished healing but they couldn't do that to skin. “So, what’s wrong with the flame?” I asked.

“Well, the technology has deteriorated over time with the lack of proper maintenance and so it is unfit to re-enter your mind without significant technological upgrades or being completely wiped, but that would also wipe the codes of the past commanders. The way I understand it is, when the flame is removed, your consciousness from that moment is what is put into the device. Then it grows and changes based on what it sees through the eyes of the new Hedda. The code and technology is so old and deteriorated that we can not isolate your code and remove it without destroying the whole device.” Monty said. “Maybe with Raven’s help, but she’s chipped and I need more time.”

“You cannot have your consciousness exist in the same place as your past consciousness. Even attempting to do so has caused more damage to the flame. Monty said that to get the parts to fix it enough to work for you again could take weeks or even months.” Gaia said as Clarke walked in.

Clarke

“Seriously, Lexa sentenced you?” I asked my mom as she was checking over the gunshot wound.

“I know, but she totally reduced it and was able to make a ton of excuses to make that work,” my mom said as I stood up off of the bed from my checkup, and we walked to the other med bay to check on the patients. 

“Jasper? Oh god, Jasper, are you ok?” I asked as I ran into the room.

“What would you care, Clarke, after all you are a mass murderer.” He said.

“I care about you Jasper, I care about you so much. What happened?” I asked directing the question at whoever could hear me.

“Jasper’s trial got to him, the witness’s reports made him feel guilty since he’s been sober for a week, he shot himself but his hands were shaking and it went through his chin and not his brain. He was gonna do it again but Lexa talked him down. With Skaikru tech, he has already recovered enough to be able to talk and it’s mostly just a mental recovery now.” Nyko said.

“Jasper, I’m so sorry-“

“I was gonna kill Cage, and you killed Maya. You murdered the mountain and we had friends. I had Maya, she was all I had besides Monty. Then Monty and you and Bellamy killed her. Now I have nothing, you know Clarke, you obviously don’t have a problem with killing your friends so why don’t you just kill me? I’m nothing but a useless drunk who makes other people miserable and it’s your fault.” Jasper flipped out on me. 

“Jasper, I never meant to do this to you. I never meant to do that to anyone. I had no choice.” I tried to apologize again.

“Yeah well-“ He suddenly went limp.

“I sedated him because he can’t lose his cool yet, he’s still recovering. Shouting could reopen the wound and the tech can only do so much, he will have a permanent speaking defect and I don’t want to make it worse.” Nyko said before I could even ask.

“Thank you,” I said as I pulled Jasper’s blanket up over his shoulder and kissed him on the forehead.

“I just heard what happened,” Monty said rushing in. “Is he gonna be ok?”

“He will be ok, but we will have some speech impairment, it will affect him for the rest of his life.” I explained.

“I just don’t understand, I mean I know he’s been in a bad place but not like this.” Monty said in a pained tone, “It’s my fault. I’m his best friend, I should’ve been there for him.”

“Hey, Monty, this isn’t your fault. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I pulled the lever and then I disappeared leaving all of you to fend for yourselves just because I couldn’t live with myself. I didn’t even realize it was like this.”

“He’s been like this for the last 3 months now, ever since we irradiated the mountain.”

“It’s my fault, I don’t know how to help him now. I gotta go help Raven. You don’t have to come with if you want to stay with Jasper.” I felt terrible leaving him there but I had too prepare a team for Raven. 

I was walking down the hallway towards Bellamy to tell him what happened to Jasper when I got sidetracked by Titus and his group of radicals once again. As I rounded the corner, I jumped instinctively with reflexes that I only developed after I landed on this god forsaken beautiful but terrible earth. As I landed, I kicked backwards, hearing a crunch I started to run when an arrow whizzed past my ear and before I knew it I had been hit on the back of the head.

I woke up tied to a chair, gagged, and blindfolded. I was slowly working away at the knot but before I could get far Titus walked in. “I thought about what would bring Lexa the most pain, so that maybe she will come to her senses. I thought about it and realized that if she had to go on like wk long looking for you and out of her mind with rage, when she finds your head delivered in a basket to her bedside, just like it was with Costia, then she would lose it. It would be all everyone against Skaikru for her, especially if you have a Skaikru bullet in your brain.” 

“Titus, think, she will know that it was you.” I said as he removed the gag. 

“She won’t. I will make sure of it.” He replied, “and even if she does there will be nothing stopping her from going to war with Skaikru anyways.” He walked away and I started going at the ropes again before Lexa’s new fleimkeppa, Gaia, came rushing in. 

“I saw him take you, we can never tell Lexa about this she would lose it. We have to get rid of that city of light thing first, Lexa told me about what she saw with it in the flame. Come on, let’s get you outta here.” 

As she was cutting through the ropes that were holding me, I started to speak, “Thanks, and I agree, we have a team assembled right now to go and help Raven, you should join it if you want. Lexa is staying to run things here but she would probably let you go.” 

“There is something wrong with the flame and she wants me and Monty to work on it so that would probably work, especially since that Raven person could help when she is recovered.”

“Cool,” I said as I finalized the team, Monty, Gaia, Octavia, Harper, Miller, Brian, Bellamy, Murphy, and Emori. We were gonna meet at the rover which Sinclair had already prepared so that Raven couldn’t figure out where we were going.

I was trying to clear my mind after everything with Titus and Raven. I was walking down the hallways when I heard screaming. It was coming from med bay,  _ my mom is in med bay, _ I panicked. I ran in there and saw Raven bleeding out next to my mom who was tied up and her guard who was knocked out next to Nyko who was also tied up. “What the hell is going on?” I screamed.

“Clarke, Raven isn’t in control of herself right now, you have to save her. The chip consumed her, Allie is in control of her now.” My mom said as I saw Raven turn around with a blank stare in her eyes and then I saw her bleeding out from the wrists. I barely caught her as she started to fall. 

“Clarke Griffin, here to save the day? Well your friend Raven submitted, she agreed to this.”

“Yeah after you tortured her,” My mom said through gritted teeth as I grabbed a reaper stick and the materials to put in stitches. 

“I simply gave her what she wanted, her pain and painful memories back.” Said Raven or whoever she was as I stabbed her with the reaper stick. I stitched her together and uncut my mom as she explained what happened with Raven. I told her that I knew where I might get a wristband and we had a plan.

“I can’t leave under the conditions of my sentence, but you need to get her to Niylah’s trading post. Make sure Monty comes to make the EMP and bring other people for backup. They can’t be chipped.” My mom said.

“Got it,” I walked into the recovery bay where I found Monty waiting with Jasper. “Monty it’s almost time, I said before I walked back to where Raven was.

Lexa was walking out. “Clarke?”She asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to save Raven. I know a place where we can get her the EMP but we need to get everyone who we know isn’t chipped. Monty you need to come, Gaia, you could come too.” I stopped as I finally noticed Jasper, “Oh god, Jasper what happened?”

“Hi Clarke,” Jasper said in a slurred voice. 

“He’s a little drugged right now, but he will be ok.” Monty explained, “something in him just finished snapping and… it’s my fault that I couldn’t see it sooner.”

“No, Monty. It’s my fault. I pulled the lever at mount weather. I caused this. Oh Jasper, I’m so sorry.” My eyes teared up as I realized what had happened.

“Anyways, Clarke you will go with Monty, Gaia, Octavia, Harper, and Miller. None of them were chipped and no chips have been handed out after our invasion.” Lexa ordered.

“Sounds good,” I said, “Lexa, can I talk to you for a moment? Alone.” I was hoping to maybe win her back but I didn’t really know if I could. 

“Make it quick.” She replied as we walked into the room next door. I grabbed her hands and then pulled her into a hug before kissing her.

“I know that you called it off, but if something goes wrong… I had to do that one more time.” I said as she pulled me back and kissed me, her eyes wet with tears that she wouldn’t let fall.

“I’m glad you did, but we don’t have the time for anything more right now. Go, I will keep running things here.” She said and walked out the door.

I found everyone in the cafeteria area and we walked over to the rover. Raven was sedated and blindfolded. 


	7. Low Points

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is forced to go to Niylah’s and she and Clarke get to talking but then something happens...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers-self harm and suicide-don’t read if it triggers you
> 
> So sorry about the delay-life just got overwhelming but I finally got back to it and so here is chpt 7. Hopefully I can get 8 and 9 out soon I still haven’t figured exactly how i will wrap this up but I will figure it out!

> Lexa
> 
> I was losing it, Clarke had left and I could only think about her safety. Honestly, at this point I felt like taking the chip. But I had to be strong. Then, I heard the news, Monty’s mother was able to help save Jackson, the skaikru doctor, then all the other chipped people. The way she explained it made sense with Raven’s theory. At this point, the flame was off with Clarke and Gaia at Niyhlah’s shop, and I was running things here. I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. I felt something, to be honest with myself, I never stopped feeling something. I just walked out of there like a cold, cruel, commander. I was everything Clarke didn’t want me to be, I got Costia killed, I got Clarke shot. I ruined everything. I had to go talk to her, and get the flame. I couldn’t, though. I was starting to lose it when I heard shouting in the corridor. People were trying to get to me. I rushed into the corridor, “What the hell is going on?” I shouted.
> 
> “The skaikru engineer couldn’t heal people, she was chipped too.” Said my closest advisor, Julius, quietly. 
> 
> “Prepare a group to travel with irrational prisoners. Julius, you are in charge.” I said as I walked towards the medical wing where the chipped people were, kicking back into motion as I started to let all of my fears slide over to the side. 
> 
> As I walked in, I saw Abby being held hostage by Jackson, “Take the chip, or I will kill your girlfriends mother.”
> 
> “My girlfriend?” I asked, questioning his choice of words.
> 
> “Yes, Clarke.” He replied calmly before repeating his demands.
> 
> “See, that’s funny you say that cause now I know that she is chipped, and also Clarke is not my girlfriend. But come on over, bring me a chip. If they really make pain go away I might as well try it.” I beckoned him over and as he neared 3 feet of me I landed a kick to the knife he had around Abby’s throat, the knife sticking out of my leather and steel boot, before twisting it out of his grasp with my leg and then knocking him down by kicking him in the gut and in the back of his knee so hard that he fell. “Load every chipped and freed person into the extra Skaikru rover, and blindfold them. Do not take a chip yourself no matter what.” I ordered as I walked into the hall where my people had learned what the city of light chip was. I got into the rover where there were 12 people blindfolded. 
> 
> “Keep Abbey and the doctor Jackson. Send the rest back to the prison.” I said and as soon as they were gone, I had one of the skaikru drive us to Niylah’s. Once we got their, we brought the chipped people in and put them in the room with Raven. They were all tied up and I took first guard. 
> 
> “So, you can’t live with yourself after you got Costia killed, then you let my daughter get shot but instead of caring for her after, you dump her. How do you live with yourself?” Said Abby as I remembered how they were connected by a hive mind. 
> 
> “I take a breath, then another.” I said calmly. 
> 
> “Roll up your sleeves then. On your shoulder. I bet that you don’t just take breaths.” Raven maliciously said. 
> 
> “How’d you-Oh my god, Titus must’ve been chipped.” Titus was the only person who knew I had self harmed, but no one knew that I had started again. Clarke found out when she saw the scars but I called them battle wounds. 
> 
> “Just because I do some things to live with myself doesn’t mean that I will take your chip.” I said, raising my voice to the point where the one called Bellamy walked in and said that my watch was over and his was starting anyways. Normally, I would have argued with him but I just welcomed the escape.
> 
> I was pacing back and forth outside Nihylah’s, not really doing anything. Titus was right, losing Costia did make me shut down, but then I had no one to open up too. 
> 
> Now I can at least talk to someone who might understand. Even if I did just dump her, I can’t go through this again, not alone. “Lexa,” Clarke asks as I walk over to her with a tear running down my cheek, “What’re you doing here, what’s wrong?”
> 
> “Nothing,” I hesitated as she wiped the tear off of my face, “everything.” I hugged her hard, and buried my face in her shoulder. “I can’t do this, Clarke. I can’t lose her again, and lose you, and… I just… i can’t.” I went on to explain what happened. “You are the only person who really understands me. I know that I called things off but I need you right now, even if only as a friend. I was wrong Clarke, and being in there with that bitch changing what they all say and think, it got to me. I don’t know what to do.”
> 
> “You were there for me after Finn, if you need me to be there for you then I will be.” Clarke said as she gave me a hug and kicked the door shut. We were in her room where she was recovering in Arcadia. 
> 
> “After Costia, I shut down. I became ruthless. I had to forgive Azgeda because part of the coalition’s beginning was that every clan got a fresh start. Once the Coalition had begun, no one got forgiveness. I would kill them mindlessly. I kept telling myself love is weakness. I had too, it was the only thing that made sense. I knew that it was my fault, and if I never loved again then whoever she was wouldn’t get hurt. Then not a year after that, when I was just starting to make a little project, a ship fell from the sky. I was ruthless then, I had you attacked over and over again. Little did I know that on the sky ship was you. When you walked into my tent that first day, trying to negotiate peace. You were trying to seem tough, you talked back to me, you were in over your head and didn’t know what to do. I could tell that what you had done and had gone through had affected you. And you were beautiful. Had you come a week earlier, there is a good chance that I would’ve just killed your people anyway. I accepted your people and… and then you told me that life should be about more than just surviving. I had been in love with you for a while and I couldn’t take it. And when things finally worked out between us, Titus ruined it and reminded me why I can’t love anyone. Why I always have to be alone.” I just let it all out, and she just sat there, understanding.
> 
> “You know, on the ark, things worked differently. Any crime was punishable by death. It was the only way to survive, overpopulation was enough to kill us all. I lived a good life growing up and then my dad found a problem. The ark had problems with its oxygen supply and there was no solution. That’s why they sent 100 of us, all juvenile delinquents, to the ground.”
> 
> “What’s a delinquent?” I asked, confused.
> 
> “It means a prisoner who was under 18, so they were granted their lives until they turned 18. My dad was gonna tell our people, but the council said no. He was going to try anyway and they floated him for that. I watched him die, killed by people who were once his friends. I was locked up and sent to the ground to keep that secret. I haven’t been through what you have been through but I sure as shit know what it’s like to lose someone you love and shutdown. They locked me up, charged me with treason. All to keep the secret that they killed my dad for. I spent months in solitary confinement and I broke. I still don’t know who I am anymore but now I have some people as my rocks. Bellamy betrayed me, like Titus did to you. Finding out Titus had Costia killed is like when I found out that my mom ratted out my dad and got him floated. You need to hold onto your rocks or else you will fall off the wagon. I can be your rock, a friend or a girlfriend. I will always love you, and I want the best for you so please keep letting me in.” She said in a way that made me almost tear up, I didn’t tear up though. I only almost teared up. Dammit, why am I ashamed of tearing up, because it’s weakness? I don’t know what to think anymore.
> 
> All of a sudden my eye’s flooded. I felt Clarke’s body instantly against mine. The comfort I craved, but also the comfort that made me weak. I swallowed down the rest of the tears. Why does she get to me, she has before and continues to do so. I angrily beat myself up inside. Again. I thought back to how I put the pain down in my life. I could isolate my emotional pain by training, I had too. I could improve my leadership and push away the pain. But it became harder every time until I started cutting myself. Of course, even Titus has no idea. The commanders in the flame don’t like it and neither do I but I just can’t stop. I thought about telling Clarke this. She had questioned what the scars were on my body when we had sex and I said they were from being tortured, which wasn’t a lie. Scars in a jumbled row down my thighs, each one leaving it’s own mental scar as well. I was tortured by the death of Costia, by being a Natblida, by Titus, by feeling weak for having emotions.
> 
> ”Hey-it’s ok. It’s gonna be ok Lexa. Things will get better, someday we won’t owe anything to our people. It’s gonna be ok.” The words Clarke whispered in my ear snapped me back into reality. 
> 
> “When will that be, Clarke. “ I asked as I pulled my lips onto hers. “I know I called it off. But if one of us die’s… I need you to know I love you more than anything.” I whispered into her ear.
> 
> “I love you too, Lex. I don’t know what I would ever do without you.” She whispered into my ear as tears streamed down my cheek. She brushed them away with her fingers and kissed me again. 
> 
> I flinched away. I wanted it so bad, my whole body was urging me to kiss her back, climb on top… but I couldn’t. “I’m sorry. I need to keep you safe. Clarke I don’t know what I would do without you. After I lost Costia… I turned as hard and cold as ice from Azgeda. You mean more to me than anyone ever has, I don’t know how I would cope knowing that you would never walk this earth again, and that it’s my fault.” I said tearing up again, as I thought to myself  _ I know exactly what I would do. I would kill whoever was responsible, then knowing I was as well, I would pass on the flame in death. _
> 
> “It’s ok, Lexa. We’re gonna be ok someday.” She paused, as if thinking, “you know, when my dad was executed, back on the arc, I thought it was my best friend who ratted him out. I felt so betrayed. Then they locked me up in solitary, I was to die as soon as I turned 18 but I knew better, the arc would have run out of oxygen before then. I thought I was dying alone. Then I came down here, I met you, all of a sudden I felt like I wasn’t so alone. Someone else understood the tough decisions I had to make on the ground, and how alone I felt. That was you.” Clarke said as she hugged me again. “And by the way, I’ m not letting you go until I know you are ok for now.”
> 
> “You know, now I don’t even have the flame to keep me company.” I said as I cuddled up close to her under the moonlight in the grass.
> 
> “Yeah but you have me.” She said as I suddenly felt a wave of guilt rush over me. I tried to discreetly hide my hand sliding down with a knife as I opened up another gash in my leg. I was just trying to knock myself back to my senses and put my pain somewhere else.
> 
> “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t even thinking about you, if anyone needs support right now it’s you. Your mom is the one who’s chipped right now, who am I to complain.” I said as Clarke’s expression started to change.
> 
> “Lexa… why are you hurting yourself?” She asked in a scared voice as she slid her hand down onto my thigh running it over the scars. “Where those self inflicted?” She asked, tearing up.
> 
> “It doesn’t matter.” I said curtly as I slipped the knife away. I knew Clarke was there so I didn’t cut deep so that it wouldn’t bleed much and so she wouldn’t notice. I had thick enough clothes on to absorb small amounts of blood. “Plus I was just re adjusting my clothes. I’m fine.” 
> 
> “Lexa I saw you reach for the knife as I stretched out and then I saw you slide your hand down. I have seen the scars, Lex. Please, let me help you.” Clarke begged.
> 
> “You can’t. This is how I be the commander my people need.” I replied, telling part of the truth but ignoring how it was also the reason I was alive today.
> 
> “It is a big deal, Lex. We need to get you help.” She said in a extremely tentative voice.
> 
> “Clarke, I deserve these cuts in the first place, and I use them as my outlet so that I can still be a good commander. I build up my pain tolerance so I never crack.” I reasoned.
> 
> “Lexa we both know how I feel about this. How about we sleep now and talk about it more in the morning when you’re less exhausted, I can see the bags under your eyes. A good nights sleep and then getting Jackson to help you out as he is a therapist will do magic.” She said. “Come on, I will walk you to your tent.” 
> 
> As she was standing up I grabbed her sleeve, “Wait, stay with me tonight.” I pleaded knowing that without the flame I couldn’t sleep without terrible dreams and the flame I could control.
> 
> “Happily.” She agreed, once again cuddling up next to me out under the moon for the night.
> 
>   
>    
> 
> 
> Clarke
> 
> I woke abruptly to find Lexa gone. “Clarke? You need to come here quickly!” She was shouting. I found my mom slitting her own wrists as Jackson had Lexa in a chokehold using his handcuffs. 
> 
> “Lexa what happened?” I asked. 
> 
> “I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk and I heard yelling in here so I came to check on them and Abby was preparing to slit her own wrists to make me take the chip. Clarke if anyone can reach her it’s you.” She said hurriedly as Jackson told her to shut up and yanked his handcuff chains harder around her neck. It was obviously he had worn them down and sharpened them in the rover while they were alone and my mom had found a knife which was laying on the floor.
> 
> “Take the key, Clarke. If you don’t then they both die.” Jackson said as my mom looked at me with an expressionless pale face, no doubt from the blood loss. It had started to pool in the rover.
> 
> “Mom, I know that you are in there. Don’t do this.” I begged as I slowly reached my hands behind my head, where I hid a knife in my hair. 
> 
> As I was doing this, Lexa started to speak quickly and desperately, “Don’t take the key, Clarke. It is worse than you can imagine. They are both trapped in the Rover with me so they won’t know where we are and” She cut off as Jacksons cuff edge pressed deeper into her throat and some beads of blood started to trickle down.
> 
> “If you call for help, she dies. If you don’t take the chip in time then your mother dies. I guess you should make a choice.” Jackson said as my mom fell down, passed out from blood loss and Lexa took advantage of the distraction to roll her chair forcing her into the chains at an awkward angle and at the same time she used the way Jackson held slack in them to reach around throwing him down and grab the knife slicing through the rope they used to bind her legs and with a smooth stroke flip herself over Jackson’s arms. She landed in the ever growing pool of blood however and slipped as the knife slid out of her hand and into the ground at my feet. Lexa was clearly struggling to speak as Jackson had opened a hole in her neck earlier and when she slipped he opened it enough to become lethal. I charged in as Gaia ran out of the tree line asking what happened. I clocked Jackson hard enough to knock him out with the handle of the knife before catching Lexa who was gurgling blood while soaked in my mom’s.
> 
> “It’s ok, I will handle Hedda. You go take care of your mother.” Gaia said like a godsend from heaven I nodded desperately, tears flowing out of my eyes as I took my mom and Jackson out of the rover and handed Gaia my set of keys. She carefully laid Lexa down in the Rover on the bench where there was no blood and had me quickly wrap the wound and I used a ventilator from the rover to keep her breathing. Gaia had learned CPR and how to use defibrillator under orders from Lexa and I hoped that she remembered just in case. Gaia was going to bring her to a healer minutes away and I blindfolded my mom and carried her limp body into the it sprinting and knowing I only had seconds. At that point Bellamy and Niylah had came out and wrapped my mom’s wrists and brought Jackson into the room with Raven. 
> 
> “Clarke, what happened?” Niylah asked as we sprinted back.
> 
> “My mom and Jackson, they tried to make us take the chip. Gaia has Lexa right now.” I said in the hallway after I put my mom down. They were tying my mom down as I was cleaning medical supplies. I walked in again but it was dead silent. I sprinted over to my mother and her pulse was extremely weak. I knew her blood type, it was AB positive but unless I was wrong, no one here could donate blood to her. She was one of the few on the arc who didn’t get the same blood type of O negative. They had messed up the birth protocols that set her blood type and it looked like it would matter right now. Then Niylah’s blood test came back, she was a match. I almost instantly had a blood transfusion going and my mom looked like she would make a recovery. I had stitched up the wounds and all she had to do was rest. I hadn’t slept for around 33 hours but it felt like longer, I decided to rest too since other people agreed to cover my guard shift.
> 
> I woke up as my mom was sneaking out of the room. “Mom? You can’t leave.” Almost instantly I remembered that she was chipped. I pulled out my knife and threw it into her foot, holding her to the floor at least momentarily. “I don’t want to shoot you, but you are about to leave me no choice. This isn’t you but I can’t let you see where we are.” I said calmly even though I was shaking. 
> 
> My mom pulled the knife out of her foot, “If you want me to stop, you will have to murder your own mother. That’s cruel and inhumane, but I mean so is committing mass genocide at mount weather.” I cocked the gun but before I had to pull the trigger, my mom was pushed further inside by Octavia. She fell over but got back on her feet quickly. As she started to push her way out, however, a bleeding Niylah and Bellamy were brought in.
> 
> “It’s Titus’s followers, they are here.” Octavia managed to blurt out as she crossed the room towards me. At this point, my mother was on the ground with a bloody foot in the corner, listening for the location as easily as possible. I knew what a risk that was, if our location was discovered by a chipped person then we couldn’t ever save anyone. Titus’s followers had Bellamy and Niylah hostage. As soon as my mother saw a blindfolded and bloody Niylah she started to talk to the air, and I knew that if Niylah’s face was cleaned off our location would be revealed. I pulled out my gun, and aimed it at the attackers.
> 
> “We would like to make a deal. My name is Argus, if you will cure Titus and the rest of us from their delirium and whatever chip they have we will let your friends live and leave you be as long as you leave our lands.” The smallest one of them said, stepping forward calmly.
> 
> “We are working on a solution to that now, you must not unblindfold them and bring them to the hall, do not disclose our location or else the whole army of chipped people will come.” I tried to explain.
> 
> “Explain this chip,” Argus ordered.
> 
> “It creates a hive mind and you see a woman in a red dress who basically mind controls you. They will do anything to make you take the chip but you must not. About your deal, we will consider it. For now, it would be most beneficial for all of our survival if we worked on removing the chip but this is the only spot with the right supplies so maybe we call a temporary truce or something along those lines.” I proposed because I wasn’t ready to make a deal with them yet. 
> 
> We took all the chipped people and put them in the room and despite the fact that it was crammed and extremely uncomfortable, we had no other choice. I was taking care of my mom along with Bellamy and Niylah but I had to constantly switch rooms and it was not easy. Monty had the flame out and was working on repairing it when Raven saw it. Instantly she started thrashing and in moments so were the rest of them. Monty rushed out of there with the flame and checked on the EMP realizing that it would be charged in only a few minutes. We walked back in with it and Raven started to thrash before biting off her bandages. After a long period of time spent struggling, we finally held her down as Monty walked in with the EMP. He applied it and as it went off, raven jolted on the bed but didn’t move. 
> 
> We were all standing around confused when Monty suddenly mentioned something he saw in a tv show on the arc, “Did any of you guys watch arrow back on the arc?” He asked suddenly.
> 
> “Now is not the time, Monty.” I said as I bit my tongue out of nervousness.
> 
> “It’s exactly the time, remember when the EMP went off and destroyed felicity’s back implant? Well they had to take it out and fix it. That is what we have to do with the chip. I saw the flame taken out of Lexa anyways back in Polis when she had me try and fix it after it was broken buy Titus’s people.” He said as I remembered something 
> 
> Monty pulled out the flame and demonstrated what happened.
> 
> Murphy had a look of shock on his face. I could tell that he remembered something but I didn’t know what it was, Emori had been left behind due to time restraints but Murphy still came with us. 
> 
> “When Lexa put the flame back in, it was in her neck and it was also where you guys took it out because I saw the wound.” I said calmly as I grabbed a scalpel and sliced a line down the back of Raven’s neck. I was right, as a silver liquid came out with the blood and minutes later, she was bandaged and awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed when I really delved into Lexa, I wish the show did that more and if she didn’t die I think they would have. I will delve deeper into her past in the next chapter and we will see what happens to her. In these fics I am really trying to do what I wish the show had done among other things so hopefully you keep reading.


	8. Salt in an open wound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa finds new land and Gaia comes back to find Clarke, the absence of Lexa weighs on Clarke and co however Lexa is dealing with new problems of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been working on the finally for over a month now it will be great-I totally forgot to post this chapter and thought I did so I am sorry for the delay. Enjoy

Lexa

Gaia was stitching over the spot on my neck and applying the plant that prevented scarring. It was an incredibly rare plant and I only used it on that spot on my neck so that people couldn’t see that scar and understand my trick. I had mastered the ability of turning my head in just the right way so that the knife didn’t sever an artery or my windpipe but instead just plunged into my skin. The plant was one that Skaikru said was not there before the bombs, but was instead created from the radiation. It would not heal a wound but it prevented scarring every time. 

As we were driving the rover, I was once again taken aback by it’s speed and how vulnerable it made me feel. Due to this, I may have overshot Polis on this fast moving version of a horse, and there wasn’t enough fuel for it to last. Gaia and I had an idea, if I didn’t come with it would take her less fuel cause it would be a lighter rover, and she would say I died of my wounds and that she had to put the flame in a new commander. Then, someone would have the flame, Titus’s group would go away, and Clarke wouldn’t have to worry about me. Then, when I came back, they could have Raven fix the flame and put it in my head. Then, I would make camp here and if she didn’t come for me in 2 days I would make my way back for my miraculous recovery and hopefully we would be able to get the flame back in my head successfully after Titus’s group had disbanded causing disorganization and a less successful insurrection. I agreed and then Gaia drove off.

I was preparing the materials left behind to make camp when some people grabbed me from behind and shot me with a weird dart and then everything went black.

I woke up in a cell, with some guards and a man in clothes like those of the mountain men leader. I was about to question him when I remembered who was the prisoner and decided that I should try and escape first. Without moving anything but my eyes, I saw an exit and realized if I could feign being passed out long enough for them to open the door I could get to the window and then through it. As I waited for the moment a beeping noise started to happen and I realized that I was connected to some sort of machine that looked similar to the skaikru medical machines.

“Well, I am glad you are awake.” I heard a voice say, “How about we do this the easy way. We know how you survive on the ground based off of your blood tests, we don’t, however, know how you got that blood. We also would like to get to know your people. You have seemed to be their leader, so we captured you and you get the opportunity to talk before we do this the hard way.” I started to stand but I was extremely dizzy. “Oh, yeah, you can’t do anything physical right now so don’t even think about escape.”

Rather than speaking English as the Skaikru called it, I went to my native language of Trigedaslang. “Yu Ste Maunon? (Are you the mountain men)” I blurted out. Almost instantly I felt a blow to my cheek. 

“Speak English.” The voice said, whoever they were were hidden under a ski mask with a voice that changed every sentence they said which was more than kind of unnerving. 

“ **Can you go to the ground** ?” I asked in trig before one of them came to my cell and opened it, apparently attempting to scare me.

“I would like you to think very carefully about your next move,” he said as he placed a piece of medal around my neck. Then he stepped back and cracked his knuckles before reaching into his pocket to pull out a weird device. He pressed on it and the most painful burning sensation rushed into my neck, like being slapped with sparks. It was terrible, I flailed and had no control. I could feel it rushing through my body, I lost control of my body. Instantly I panicked, I hated losing control, especially of my own body. I remember the only other time I felt this violated. Old commanders had helped me through it, particularly Callie, who was my favorite. She called it sexual assault or rape, it was before my conclave, and before the previous commander died. One of the fleimkeppa mentors manipulated me. To this day no living soul knows why that fleimkeppa died or who killed him. I am a strong person, I told myself, then I fell for Costia, I could barely cope with it and after I became commander I basically fell apart. Costia was the only person I could confide in and she understood, she had been there. Every time Titus said “Love is weakness,” it was a huge blow because I kept telling myself that I was strong. All of a sudden the pain started again. I tried to claw at the collar, maybe pull it off but that just made my fingers burn up and made me thrash even more. 

“So… who are you, speak english this time.” The man’s voice said.

“ **I don’t understand you, please stop, do you speak trig?** ” I hurriedly spoke as they brought in one of my people. I recognized him, he was Sangedakru. 

“ **Hedda?** ” He asked in a quite and apprehensive tone of voice.

“See, we know you speak english because he here speaks English and has confirmed that you are the ruler and that you speak English. So… Start talking.” The female voice said.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are or what you want with me but my people will send armies after you if you don’t let me go.” I said using the most commanding tone I could muster.

“Let me clue you in, this bunker is failing, we can survive in the world because we have been slowly developing radiation immunity by exposing ourselves to small and increasing doses over the years. However, radiation rates are rising and we figured out why. The nuclear power plants that weren’t shutdown before the bombs, as I understand it your people call it praimfaya, have gone into a nuclear meltdown. It is unstoppable. However our bunker is not built to last long enough to wait out the radiation that will result from it, it is just too old. It can withstand the wave of nuclear fire that will happen but not years of sustained life. It has faced irrevocable damage. We understand that you have different blood and we would like to come up with a solution that works for both of our people. To do this, we require your cooperation.” The man finished, at this point my vision had cleared up well enough to see clearly and I was starting to regain the ability to move, I just had to stall until I was good to go.

“Prove it, I don’t believe you, you’re just bluffing.” I claimed as I started to work on my restraints. They were weird plastic things (zip cuffs for anyone who is confused lol) and I was able to use the blade I always kept hidden to cut them open. At this point I was able to move enough to get past those 2 guys unless they fought as well as Roan did when I fought him.

“I will go get the graphs,” the man said leaving me alone with the sangedakru man and the man’s accomplice.

“ **We go now, swing at her left leg on the Achilles’ tendon or back of her knee, I will flip her then unlock you and we run.** ” I told the sangedakru man as I regained motion rather quickly.

“English only,” The girl said, walking in perfect range for the sangedakru man to land a powerful kick to the back of her knee. As she fell backwards I landed my heel right in the space between her nose and mouth while spinning myself so that my other foot landed in the gut of the man who was rushing in. As I felt the adrenaline rush through my veins I knew whatever they had used to paralyze me had completely worn off. The guy doubled over and grunted as I grabbed his head and smashed it on my knee. I pushed him away as he stumbled over, seemingly beat. I sliced open the other plastic restraints with the same knife I used to cut mine. 

“ **If praimfaya is really going to happen again we can get Skaikru’s help to fix it-Now let’s get outta here!”** I shouted to sangedakru man who I finally recognized, his name was Tag-Usu. We sprinted down the passageway before we realized we had no clue where we were. I slowed and we took one of the guards sent to capture us as we fought off the rest and started questioning how to leave. More guards were coming and we didn’t have much time but he talked and we ran. The chances he was running us into a trap were high but we had no other choice. Then everything went black. 

  
  


Clarke

My mom was doing ok but we still had her under constant watch along with the other chipped prisoners. Raven was back to normal and was doing everything she could to help us out. It had been 2 days since Gaia had left with Lexa and we were still awaiting word on what happened. Gaia would be back any time now, and I was currently awaiting her return. I had been monitoring my mom’s wounds to make sure they didn’t get infected and so far so good, however everyone was growing increasingly on edge because if anyone chipped found out where we were a whole army would come after us. Granted some of them were locked up in Polis but who knows if they got out.

“Clark, you haven’t slept in days, go get some rest.” Niylah said as she laid a comforting hand on my shoulder, “I will wait for Gaia now.” 

Relieved at the opportunity, I nodded gratefully and went to take a quick nap. I couldn’t stop worrying about Lexa, if she died, it would be my fault. I could have saved her then, and maybe my mom as well.  _ I have killed so many people, _ I thought to myself, _ I killed the boy I loved, I couldn’t save my dad, I wiped out mount weather, I set off the ship to burn the grounders. I did that for my people. Did I just kill Lexa, the woman I love, to save my mother? _ I started to cry but eventually my exhaustion overwhelmed me. 

I woke up to yelling as Gaia showed up. I ran outside, forgetting to leave the door of the prisoners room locked. “Lexa’s dead.” She said bluntly. I stumbled backwards, into Niylah. She came into the view of the prisoners but I didn’t care. I was consumed with grief, pain, and anger. 

“No, she can’t be.” I whispered shakily.

“I’m so sorry, she was a great commander. I must go to Polis and begin the next conclave.” Gaia said, turning around and preparing to leave. Instantly, everyone was by my side as Bellamy and the others came to give me a hug. 

“I need some time alone,” I said in a shaky voice as I tried not to break down. I walked into the woods where I lost it. 

“It get’s better,” Octavia said quietly as she came to get next to me. “I don’t know when, but it get’s better.”

“You loved Lincoln, how did you deal with it?” I asked.

“The warrior doesn’t grieve until after the battle is over,” She said in the same way Lexa would use “love is weakness”. “But to be honest, I am numb. I've never fit in here, Clarke. Lincoln was my only family besides Bellamy, and he turned against me. But Clarke, you can get through this. Your a strong person.” 

“It’s my fault, Octavia, I couldn't save them both. My mom could, but I-I couldn’t. Just like I couldn’t save my dad, or Finn , or anyone.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault. Allie did this. And Pike killed Lincoln. Right now, our only job is to catch those sons of bitches and get justice. Clarke-“ She was cut off by sounds from the main camp. We came sprinting back to realize the chipped people found us. We started packing up to leave but there was no time to get my mom or any other chipped people. We started to get out of there as fast as we could but without the rover it was tough. We made it out just in time to hide but that was only a temporary solution.

“We need to get to Polis,” Raven said quietly. “The flame is the key to taking down the chipped people.” 

“Yeah, one problem.” Bellamy said, “There is an army of chipped grounders and skaikru alike coming for us.”

We hadn’t made it more than a few minutes before the army started to find us. “Mom?” Monty asked as his mother walked out of the fog by our cave. 

“Monty?” She asked, “Monty I need you to give me the flame so that the chipped people can’t get it.”

“I can’t do that mom,” He said before she rushed at him and pushed him to the ground.

“Get off him!” Harper shouted pushing her away from Monty but getting herself into the fight. As Monty’s mom was beating Harper up and preparing to kill her, everyone else was busy pushing back the army of chipped zombies. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Monty pull out a gun. 

“Please mom, don’t make me do this.”He said as his hands shook, but as his mom went in for the kill the gunshot rang and she fell, dead, as Harper stood up shakily. They both did their best against the line of the chipped as we were pushed back, we started to make a run for it. We were near the drop ship at this point and there was a rover there. Titus’s group of followers was fighting alongside us against our common enemy and that was the only reason we were alive. Argus sprinted over to me.

“We will hold them off, you have the technology to beat this thing. Go to the metal horse you call a rover and get out of here. Save our peoples!” He shouted as he ordered his men to fight harder and cover us. We sprinted for cover at the drop ship where we managed to get into the rover and hightail out of there.

In the back of the rover I sat numb and in shock watching everything else unfold. Monty and Harper were next to each other and she was comforting him and you could tell the toll it was taking on Monty. By the end of the ride he looked like me, numb, determined, and shaken. 

**Context for reader-In Polis, conclave happened like in the show, Lexa isn’t back yet and Gaia knows it will be a while. She also knows the flame won’t work in Lexa since it hasn’t been put in anyone else. 

  
  


When we made it to Polis, we found chaos. Gaia met us at the gate and started to explain what happened but there wasn’t time. “The conclave failed, Azgeda holds the crown and I have lied that I do not have the flame but I am only buying us time.” She said before pulling us into a empty building. 

“We need a night blood to put the flame in, that is the only way to win.” Raven said as Gaia instantly had an idea.

“There is one other option, her name is Luna.” Gaia said as you could see Octavia recognize the name. 

“Lincoln has mentioned her,” Octavia says as we formulate a plan. 

As we leave, Gaia hands me the flame and promises to do her best to maintain what’s left of Polis.

**Context for reader-Events continue as they had in the show up until Clarke and co are back in Polis after trying to gain Luna’s favor. In this storyline, they have to send a group to prevent the imprisoned people who have been chipped from being freed as Polis is taken over. Pike, Indra, and the other prisoners in Polis are still in the same situation

I made my way up to the throne room with Roan, Gaia, and Octavia. Monty, Harper, Raven, and Jasper were still left in Arcadia and everyone else was guarding the dungeon. As we burst into the throne room we saw Murphy, Pike, Kane, and Indra fighting with a mix of grounders and Skaikru alike struggling to hold off the overwhelming force of chipped zombie people. They were not able to make it into the throne room at the moment. In the throne room, Jaha and my mother were working with Ontari. As we burst in, I saw my mom demand the flame.

“Give me the flame, Clarke.” My mom said. As an force of chipped people grabbed me and my friends, we fought them off best we could. We had the ability to take the chip out of 1 person, and Ontari was the target. 

I was forced into a chair as I was closed into the throne room with a unconscious Ontari, my mom, and Jaha. “Tell me where the flame is, Clarke. If you don’t I will reopen that gunshot wound you recovered from.” 

“You are the reason Lexa is dead, I will never help you.” I said coldly. I didn’t know what was happening to me but without Lexa to lean on and with my mom turning into someone else, I had turned cold. I didn’t care about anything but killing the ai and then defeating Pike. 

“Lexa’s dead?” My mother asked. “You can put that behind you Clarke. I saw the toll killing Finn took on you, we both know it’s your fault that Lexa died. You chose to let me live over her. But Clarke, you can put that behind you. All you gotta do is take the key.”

“NO!” I shouted as my mom grabbed a scalpel and plunged it into my chest twice. “You think that will make me talk? Ha-your funny?” I said as I put on my best possible tough face. 

“Well then let’s try this.” My mom said as she stood up onto a stool and put a noose around her neck. “Are you gonna let Lexa die for nothing, Clarke?” She asked as she kicked the stool out from under her.

“Tell us where the flame is, or even better, take the key.” Jaha said as he walked over to my mother. “You get to choose whether Lexa died for a reason, you get to choose whether your own mother gets to live.” He emphasized “you” he said as if there wasn’t enough conflict going through me right now. I had one advantage, Jasper didn’t know about how we could remove any 1 extra chip because we didn’t have time to tell him before he was found to be chipped. 

I was tied into the chair quickly and wasn’t bound well, finding this out I decided to play along. “Fine, I will take the key.” I said in the most scared voice I could make. I knew I was putting myself in a bad place because if I couldn’t remove the chip from Ontari then we wouldn’t be able to stop ALLIE, however I had to address the current situation first. 

“I’m glad you are finally seeing reason, Clarke.” He said as he walked over and my mom let out a weak gasp, she didn’t have long. As soon as he walked over and went to place the chip in my mouth I let him before biting down on the chip and spitting it out as I slammed the chair into the wall. I leveraged the rope enough to pull both my hands to the side of my body so as not to break them and as the chair broke I was able to pull the rope over my head. Jaha was a starting to react but I didn’t give him time, I watched my mom go limp. I was originally planning on saving her but I couldn’t risk using it on her in her current condition because it could worsen it or it could be a wasted use. Instead I landed a kick to the back of Jaha’s knee knocking him down onto the other one where I pulled out his knife from his belt throwing it into the wooden hook my mom was being hung with, catching it with the tip of the knife sinking in deep, my mom’s limp body and the knife were too much for the hook to hold and it snapped, dropping my mom. I turned to Jaha who had gotten up and tackled me before I could do anything. 

As he shoved me to the ground I landed my knee to his chest and although he couldn’t feel pain, it did knock the wind out of him. I pushed him off me and pulled the EMP out of my bag. It was pre set just in case we didn’t have time to build it and all I had to do was press a button. I placed it on the back of his neck as he started to struggle but I managed to pin him down enough to send the jolt. As he went limp I rushed over to my mom and checked for a pulse, it was weak but it was there. I sighed in relief and pulled out the knife from the broken hook, ran it through one of the candles and sliced into Jaha’s neck letting the chip ooze out. 

I ran to the door and unlocked it, letting in Octavia, Bellamy, and Roan. We rushed to the other side and started to help the effort against the chipped people attacking Indra’s group. Somehow, they had knocked a lot of them out and the hallway had a good foot of water on the floor. I saw a Stun wand and realized that one of them shocklashed the water knocking out all the chipped people.


End file.
